Randy’s Rummage
This Lent you might notice something that is different. Well, actually, a number of things are different in art and environment, music and the liturgy itself. Next Sunday, however, we will not be switching to the Gospel of John. This decision was made as part of our Liturgy Planning Retreat last August. It took a good amount of prayer, reflection and spirited discussion. However, given that Pope Francis has asked us to focus on Mercy this year, and mercy is a significant theme in the Gospel of Luke, we decided to stay with the Sunday Gospels from Luke. I hope you don’t miss our old friends The Woman at the Well, the Man Born Blind and Lazarus too much. If so, you can always find them in the Gospel of John.
Remember that THE CHURCH IS OPEN FOR PRIVATE PRAYER AND REFLECTION ON FRIDAYS DURING THE HOURS OF OUR FISH FRY (4:00 – 7:00 P.M.) This allows you to spend some quiet time with the Lord either before or after enjoying your dinner at St. Blase. Do remember to support our fish fry and invite friends and neighbors to join you. For those who love to bake, we are grateful for your homemade specialties. Please drop them off by 2:30 P.M. on Fridays so we can prepare the dessert table. Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness and for sharing your kitchen talent with us.
If you spend any time in our Social Center you will notice that our floor “snaps, crackles and pops” as you walk on it. Yes, the tile floor has had it. We are working toward its being replaced. However, as you know, this part of our facility is used extensively. Therefore, the work will likely be done this summer. In other building news, we have begun the bidding process on the replacement of our roof. We are hoping, with the blessing of the archdiocese, to begin that work in the spring. In the meantime we are grateful for a mild winter and a lack of ice on the roof. If winter was severe we would have experienced many more leaks than we have so far.
This week’s “Mercy Moment” is taken from the writings of Etty Hillesum, who has been called “the adult counterpart to Anne Frank.” In the midst of the Nazi occupation of Holland and the resulting genocide, her diaries speak of an affirmation of faith, life and liberation. Etty Hillesum died at Auschwitz at the age of 29.
“I thanked God again, not for the warm bed and the pea soup but for wanting to dwell in me once more. I never thank Him for the worldly goods He gives me, nor should I rebel against Him were he to cut them off. It goes against the grain to give thanks for something that so many people lack. I shall never be able to give thanks for my daily bread when I know so many others do not have theirs. But I hope I shall be thankful for something else. For having God dwell in me. And that has nothing to do with being well fed. At least that is what I tell myself now, by my warm stove and after a decent breakfast. Truly, things are not as simple as they seem.” (Etty Hillesum, Essential Writings, Orbis Books, 2009.)
This Lent you might notice something that is different. Well, actually, a number of things are different in art and environment, music and the liturgy itself. Next Sunday, however, we will not be switching to the Gospel of John. This decision was made as part of our Liturgy Planning Retreat last August. It took a good amount of prayer, reflection and spirited discussion. However, given that Pope Francis has asked us to focus on Mercy this year, and mercy is a significant theme in the Gospel of Luke, we decided to stay with the Sunday Gospels from Luke. I hope you don’t miss our old friends The Woman at the Well, the Man Born Blind and Lazarus too much. If so, you can always find them in the Gospel of John.
Remember that THE CHURCH IS OPEN FOR PRIVATE PRAYER AND REFLECTION ON FRIDAYS DURING THE HOURS OF OUR FISH FRY (4:00 – 7:00 P.M.) This allows you to spend some quiet time with the Lord either before or after enjoying your dinner at St. Blase. Do remember to support our fish fry and invite friends and neighbors to join you. For those who love to bake, we are grateful for your homemade specialties. Please drop them off by 2:30 P.M. on Fridays so we can prepare the dessert table. Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness and for sharing your kitchen talent with us.
If you spend any time in our Social Center you will notice that our floor “snaps, crackles and pops” as you walk on it. Yes, the tile floor has had it. We are working toward its being replaced. However, as you know, this part of our facility is used extensively. Therefore, the work will likely be done this summer. In other building news, we have begun the bidding process on the replacement of our roof. We are hoping, with the blessing of the archdiocese, to begin that work in the spring. In the meantime we are grateful for a mild winter and a lack of ice on the roof. If winter was severe we would have experienced many more leaks than we have so far.
This week’s “Mercy Moment” is taken from the writings of Etty Hillesum, who has been called “the adult counterpart to Anne Frank.” In the midst of the Nazi occupation of Holland and the resulting genocide, her diaries speak of an affirmation of faith, life and liberation. Etty Hillesum died at Auschwitz at the age of 29.
“I thanked God again, not for the warm bed and the pea soup but for wanting to dwell in me once more. I never thank Him for the worldly goods He gives me, nor should I rebel against Him were he to cut them off. It goes against the grain to give thanks for something that so many people lack. I shall never be able to give thanks for my daily bread when I know so many others do not have theirs. But I hope I shall be thankful for something else. For having God dwell in me. And that has nothing to do with being well fed. At least that is what I tell myself now, by my warm stove and after a decent breakfast. Truly, things are not as simple as they seem.” (Etty Hillesum, Essential Writings, Orbis Books, 2009.)